The best executive health checks in Sydney, and how to choose

When a full day with coaching is the right answer

Oracle Healthcare in St Leonards publishes six assessments, from Basecamp at about A$1,150 to Everest Plus at about A$6,250 [1]. Everest Plus measures more than 45 health markers and adds bowel, breast or prostate cancer testing to everything in Everest, which costs about A$5,200 [1]. Both include a nutrition and exercise plan, six coaching sessions after the day, and repeat Vectra skin imaging, a DEXA scan and blood tests. Oracle gives the total time for Everest Plus as 7.5 hours, including the coaching and a review at 6 months [1].

For a shorter day, Kosciuszko Plus costs about A$3,200 and takes 4.25 hours. Oracle builds it for people over 45, or of any age with a personal or family history of heart problems [1].

This kind of programme suits someone who wants help changing how they eat and exercise, and who values a second look at the same numbers half a year later. It asks for more of your time than any other option in the city.

When imaging and genetics are the right answer

HealthScreen, with clinics in Sydney and Melbourne, sells the HealthScreen Platinum Program at A$5,900. The diagnostic day takes 3 to 4 hours and includes more than 100 blood markers, a targeted MRI, ultrasound of the carotid arteries and the thyroid, and a coronary calcium score where it is clinically indicated [2]. Platinum adds a panel of 167 cancer and heart genes, a biological age test and a microbiome test. The standard HealthScreen Program costs A$3,500 [2].

HealthScreen states that Medicare and private health insurance rebates are not available for either programme [2]. Services Australia lists multi-phasic testing among the health screening services for which Medicare pays no benefit [3]. HealthScreen suits someone who wants as much imaging as possible in one visit. Ask what each extra test would change in your care before you pay for it.

When a shorter assessment in the city is the right answer

Executive Medicine, in the Sydney CBD, publishes three assessments. The Foundational assessment costs A$1,650 and takes about 1.5 to 2 hours, and the Signature assessment costs A$2,150 [4]. The Foresight assessment costs A$4,250 and takes about 3.5 to 4 hours, with a genetic swab taken at home and a separate dermatology appointment [4]. It adds genetic screening for selected heart and cancer genes, computer assisted mole mapping with a dermatology review, and ultrasound of the heart and abdomen on site [4].

A shorter assessment suits a full diary and an office in the city. It covers fitness, the heart and a doctor's examination well, and leaves out some of the imaging the longer days include.

What the evidence says a health check can do

Checking everyone for everything has a weak record. A Cochrane review of 17 trials, 15 of which reported results for 251,891 people, found that general health checks had little or no effect on deaths from any cause or from cancer, and probably little or no effect on deaths from heart disease [5].

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners sets out which checks are worth doing in its guidelines for preventive activities, known as the Red Book. For bowel cancer it recommends a home stool test every 2 years from age 45 to 74 for people at average risk [6]. Its guidance on screening says a test is recommended only where the evidence shows the benefits outweigh the harms [7].

Tests aimed at a known risk carry more weight. In 6,722 adults free of heart disease when they were scanned, a coronary calcium score above 300 was linked to close to ten times the rate of coronary events of a score of zero [8]. In 11,092 adults without diabetes, an HbA1c from 6.0% to just under 6.5% carried more than four times the later risk of diabetes of a level from 5.0% to just under 5.5% [9].

Six questions to ask before you choose

The answers tell you more about an assessment than the length of its list of tests.

• Which tests are chosen for my age, sex and family history, and which are given to everyone?
• Will a doctor go through every result with me in person, and how soon?
• If a result needs a second test or a specialist, who arranges it and what does it cost?
• Which tests repeat at my next visit, so I can see how my numbers change?
• Does the assessment include a full skin check by a doctor, with images kept for comparison?
• What does the price include, and what is charged on top?

What our assessment in Sydney costs

Our executive health assessment in Sydney costs from A$6,900. It will be one day with one doctor, who brings your examination, blood tests and imaging together and goes through every result with you before you leave.

We will keep your results from one year to the next, so each assessment is read against the last. When something needs following up, the same doctor will see you again and arrange the next test.